She Would Have Laughed
by A Pirate By Any Other Name
Summary: The Earth is in a crisis, people worldwide are panicking, U.N.I.T. is getting ready for war and the T.A.R.D.I.S. has been captured by Sontarans, but the Doctor just sighs, because he knows she would have laughed.


**DISCLAIMER:** Doctor Who belongs to BBC, RTD, Steven Moffat and other such geniuses. This fanfiction was written purely my enjoyment and yours. No money is being made from this story.

**Author Note:** This little nugget popped into my head while talking with my lovely Whovian friend,_** flower gettin' lady**_, to whom I also dedicate this story. It takes place during Season 4 of Doctor Who, in the episode "The Poisonous Sky."

* * *

So far: _A Sontaran force is invading Earth. Their ship watches in Earth's orbit as their Atmos devices, introduced months earlier to Earth as the invention of a boy genius, pollute the air with a poisonous gas. On earth, U.N.I.T. has seized an Atmos factory as their temporary base and are attempting to stop the Sontarans and dispel the gas. The Sontarans have captured the T.A.R.D.I.S. and brought aboard their ship, unaware that Donna Noble is inside. Meanwhile, the Doctor is stuck on Earth, trying to stop the members of U.N.I.T. from fighting the Sontarans, as he knows they are no match for them._

**She Would Have Laughed**

Outside the factory the air is thick with white fog, making it difficult to see in any direction. The London city skyline is completely invisible and all around is the sound of people coughing and choking. The Doctor, Colonel Mace, Doctor Martha Jones and a group of soldiers make their way to the factory parking lot and prepare to launch an attack on the remaining Sontarans inside.

The Doctor slips on his gas mask Colonel Mace has given him, chuckling a bit at the memories it brings up.

_The year is 1941, during the London Blitz. A small child in a gas mask looks curiously at him and Rose. "Are you my Mummy?" he asks, over and over. "Are you my Mummy?"_

The thump of a weapons chest brings the Doctor back to the present. He turns interestedly towards Colonel Mace who was showing him a gun, a standard issue to the U.N.I.T. Troops. "Latest firing stock. What do you think, Doctor?" the Colonel asks.

The Doctor looks balefully at the gun and then innocently up at the Colonel. "Are you my Mummy?" he asks in a childish voice. _Rose would have laughed, _he thinks.

Colonel Mace gives the Doctor a reproachful look. "If you could concentrate," he says sternly. The Doctor's shoulders sag just a fraction as he thinks, _she would have laughed. Rose would have got the she and I would share a knowing look and smile...she had such a lovely smile._

The Doctor realizes Colonel Mace is still speaking. Now he has a bullet in his hand, apparently for the Doctor to look at. "Bullets with a rad-steel coating, no copper surface," he is saying. The Doctor nods. _So he was listening earlier. Listening, but not laughing, as she would have. And Rose would know not to fight a Sontaran._ The Colonel continues, the tone of his voice telling the Doctor that he should be impressed. "Should overcome the Cordolaine signal," he finishes. The Doctor isn't impressed.

"But the Sontarans have got lasers!" he cries. _Don't they get it? Even with these supposedly improved weapons, they'll be helpless against the Sontaran force!_ He throws his arms out, gesturing to the thick fog swirling around them. "You can't even see in this fog, the night vision doesn't work!" _They'll end up shooting themselves while the Sontarans look on and laugh!_

Colonel Mace just frowns at the Doctor and answers in a sarcastic, know-all tone, "Thank you Doctor. Thank you for your lack of faith." The Doctor rolls his eyes. _Rose would have rolled her eyes at the pompous windbag too, _ he thinks. The Colonel stands tall as he continues, "But this time, I'm not listening." He marches off, leaving the Doctor to his thoughts as he addresses the troops. "Attention all troops!" he begins, and the Doctor looks away, no longer listening to what he is sure will be a rousing speech about the strength of humanity. _Which is all well and good,_ he thinks, _except when you're dealing with a Sontaran army._

With a sigh, the Doctor looks up at the sky, thinking of Donna, his "secret weapon" on the Sontaran ship. _She won't let me down._Next he looks over at Martha-but-not-Martha, who is standing expressionless, watching the events around her. Very so often she glances at the phone in her hand, but the Doctor knows it's not to check on her family. _I need to find the real Martha,_ he thinks, and mentally puts it on his to-do list, right next to "save the Earth."

There's a shout from the soldiers as Colonel Mace finishes his speech. The Doctor cracks another smile as they all turn around, gas masks adorning their faces._ "Are you my Mummy?"_ the Doctor thinks once more. _Oh yes, Rose would have laughed._

Then all other thoughts are driven from his head as a loud roar if heard overhead and a ship slowly comes into view, clearing the fog away with massive turbines. A light comes into the Doctor's eye as he recognizes it and cries out, "It's the _Valiant!_" A grin comes to his face. _Time to save the world again._


End file.
